The economic and social conditions of today present an opportunity to explore how the reuse of existing buildings can be a financially and environmentally viable alternative to new construction. There is currently no clear method for evaluating existing buildings in terms of their overall value, taking into account economic, environmental, and social values. Such a model would systematically determine whether or not to invest in remodeling a building or to simply demolish it and build new. This approach will place a comprehensive value on an historic piece of architecture in order to decide which buildings will remain a part of our fabric and which should be replaced.
Four surplus Cincinnati Public Schools buildings have been evaluated in order to determine which has the most potential value for reuse, not just economically, but also environmentally and socially. Upon site selection, the evaluation model is used to decide the level of development and program that would provide the highest comprehensive value for the developer, users, and the community alike. This triple value model can be used to aid architectural design decisions in order to produce a development that has the highest potential value in all three categories. The use of this comprehensive value model allows the inherent social and environmental values of endangered existing buildings to offset the economic argument for demolition.